Highway Widening Gets $3.8 Million

By Julia Scott, STAFF WRITER

HALF MOON BAY — Frustrated motorists trying to make a turn at the congested intersection of Highway 92 and Main Street will get some relief in the spring, when the city breaks ground on a highway- widening project that has been in the works for four years.

The San Mateo County Transportation Authority recently committed $3.8 million toward the initiative, the final installment in an $18.4 million project.

Half Moon Bay City Councilman Mike Ferreira said he now expects the project to break ground in April.

“It’s great to have the money to get the project moving,” he said. “This is one of the traffic priorities in the county.”

The narrow, three-lane intersection is a notorious inconvenience to local commuters, backing up traffic along Highway 92 and into the city’s downtown. It also harms the city’s tourist trade.

The city will make the following changes:

-The Highway 92/Main Street intersection will be expanded to six lanes: two center lanes, plus one turn lane onto north Main and one onto south Main Street.

-A traffic lane will be added to the first block of south Main Street where it connects with Highway 92.

-The city will add a double left turn lane from southbound Highway 1 to speed the traffic connection with Highway 92.

-The stretch of road between Highway 92 and Highway 1 will be expanded from one lane to three.

-The city will make a number of improvements to north Main Street, including the addition of a bicycle lane.

City officials estimated that the project would take approximately one year to complete. It will be done in sections to accommodate traffic flow. The city will underground its utility lines and add a new sewer and water line at the same time.

The latest grant from the Transportation Authority brings that agency’s total contribution to $11 million. The San Mateo Metropolitan Transportation Commission, with the help of Commissioner Sue Lempert, also recently granted the project $2.4 million.

Half Moon Bay Mayor Jim Grady said the city would not have to pay the money back. The county expects to be reimbursed by the state in 2007.

“The county is advancing those monies to the city. They’re counting on getting repaid by the state,” he said.

The city has used eminent domain laws to seize several properties along the edges of the existing intersection to make room for the new roadway.

Several businesses will be affected, including two gas stations facing each other on either side of Highway 92, the Pilarcitos Square shopping plaza, and other stores.

Ferreira said some of the businesses would only have to give up part of their parking lots to the expansion.

None of the landowners so far has disputed the city’s right to claim their property, although some might quibble over the price they’ve been offered for it. Ferreira said the eminent domain proceedings would not delay the April ground breaking.

Staff writer Julia Scott covers North County and the Coast. She can be reached at 348-4340 or at jscott@sanmateocountytimes.com.